The prior art has put forth a variety of compressed fuel devices, methods and apparata. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,906 to Hartouni described a Fuel Cartridge and Burner wherein the cartridge is completely enclosed in the combustion chamber.
Another example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,393 to Christian which describes a coal article comprising coal particles and igniter material having a hollow core to facilitate the combustion of the fuel.
Further examples include:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,222,250, “Fuel Briquette” to Bowling describes a log comprised of biomass having a resinous outer coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,833,633, “Apparatus for Forming Logs of Compressible Materials” to Hecht is a mechanized device for compressing sawdust or other material into logs by pressing sequential discs until a log is formed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,651, “Synthetic Fireplace Log” to Ronden describes a log made of charcoal, sawdust and binder material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,796, “Fast Lighting Artificial Firelog” to Vincent and Rauch describes a log made of wood and wax, having a groove along its length and wrapped in paper.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,343, “Fire Log Process and Apparatus” to Bernard describes a mechanized device for forming logs from sawdust.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,765, “Artificial Fireplace Logs with Ignition Strips” to Tanner describes a log of combustible material, having enhanced combustibility due to the addition of an ignition strip along its length.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,396, “Wafered Fuel of Compressed Wood Products” to Burton describes a combustible product having a sequential disc configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,034, “Easy Lighting Fireplace Log” to Wu and Barron describe a log having a groove along its length and a single paper covering.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,032, “Compacted Sawdust Log and Method and Apparatus for Making the Same” to Benson describes a method of making a sawdust log utilizing a cylindrical form, an inner cylinder wrapped with newspaper, packing the form with sawdust and removing the inner cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,256, “Composite Fuel Article” to Fay and Olszewski describes a log of combustible material having a hole in its center, surrounded by spacing elements and finally wrapped in ignition material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,555, “Down Burning Solid Fuel Body” to Kim and Kim describes a layered fuel body comprising chemicals in addition to the combustible material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,036, “Artificial Fire Log” to Chandaria also describes a log having a groove along its length, as well as a V-shaped channel along its length.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,912,192, “Multi-Layered Solid Combustible Article and Its Manufacture” to Kim and Cirlin describe a log having stratified layers of materials of varying combustibility.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,756, “Apparatus and Method for Accomplishing Efficient Burning of Biomass Fuel Materials” to Chamberlain and Tiggs describes a complex stove having a catalytic converter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,356, “High Efficiency Wood Pellet Stove” to Vossler and Tomooka describes a wood pellet stove.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,004,084, “Corner Burner” to Anderson and Anderson describes a corn burner.
None of these prior art references describe the invention of the present application.
Most prior art artificial fuels and fire starters are formed of particulate flammable materials such as sawdust which are coated with or composed of petroleum wax binders or resins and compressed into a predetermined shape for maintaining the desired shape of the final fuel body and for easier igniting. These artificial fuels and fire starters cannot be used for cooking. In contrast, the present invention is useful for cooking.
Some manufactured fuels like wood pellets and pressed logs are made by highly compressed sawdust or wood shavings generally without any binders added. In fact, these fuels are so dense and they are more difficult to start compared to cordwood and they are generally used in a home fireplace or a complicated pellet stove to burn effectively.